‘Refine’ is the brand for a fictional furniture company inspired by the dystopian novel ‘We’ by Yevgeny Zamyatin. The remains of civilization now exist in a totalitarian nation called the ‘One State’, where mathematics is revered and freedom in every sense of the word has been abolished to retain order and control over the people. The city is constructed almost entirely of glass, allowing the secret police and government spies to supervise the public more easily, therefore Refine only sells transparent furniture.
Adopting the ethos of the One State government, the brand reflects the clean, systematic and mechanical nature of the civilization and is always accompanied by the One State seal. The stationery for the brand is all printed on clear acetate, the business cards made of clear perspex, and the brochure printed entirely on translucent vellum, not only as a reference to the transparency of the furniture, but as an allusion to the theme of lack of privacy and to enforce the idea that, for the citizens of One State, there is nowhere to hide.